Leominster worker denies role in probe of mayor

LEOMINSTER 
Housing rehab specialist Joseph Cataldo said he is not the one who reported Mayor Dean J. Mazzarella to the State Ethics Commission.

He also denied he lied to the commission, which fined the mayor $4,000 last week for abuse of power in obtaining a $25,000 housing rehab grant for a lifelong friend.

Mr. Cataldo said yesterday the mayor asked him in 2007 to see that his friend’s house got the grant money even though his friend lacked a clear title to the property. Under city rules, the Community Development Block Grant was not to be used on property that the city could not place a lien on — an impossibility in the absence of a title.

Furthermore, Mr. Cataldo said, the mayor later cut his hours in the hopes he would resign and would not be around as a witness when, in late 2010, the mayor was offered a gift of the friend’s home, at 72 Carter St., by the heirs of the mayor’s friend, World War II veteran Mario A. Cavaioli, who died earlier that year.

Mr. Cataldo made his comments yesterday in response to “repeated attacks” on him by the mayor in the news media. The mayor last week accused Mr. Cataldo of “fabricating” the allegations to the Ethics Commission, which investigated the matter for a year. The mayor agreed to the $4,000 fine and admitted to three counts of conflict of interest to get a rehab grant for Mr. Cavaioli, but said he only did so because fighting the commission’s allegations would have been too expensive and time-consuming.

After several days of not commenting on the mayor’s accusations, Mr. Cataldo said yesterday he asked for and received permission from the mayor’s office to talk about the matter. He said the mayor is the one “fabricating” stories — not him.

“It was very hard for me, my family, and friends to read the lies, slander and character assassinations in the media,” Mr. Cataldo said. “I am frustrated over all the false statements thrown at me regarding 72 Carter St. and as the CDBG program housing specialist. The mayor admits his guilt, then tries to turn it around and place blame on me. Facts are facts, truth is truth, and guilty is guilty.”

He said Mr. Mazzarella broke the rules by asking him to push the rehab of Mr. Cavaioli’s home to the top of the list for CDBG money even after Mr. Cataldo told the mayor the home lacked a clear title. This meant he couldn’t place a lien on the property to protect the city in case it had to recoup the money.

The Ethics Commission said Mr. Mazzarella used his “uniquely powerful position” and the significant authority he held over all city employees to obtain preferential treatment to obtain the grant to rehab Mr. Cavaioli’s home. The law requires that public officials must make a public disclosure before acting in matters affecting their friends.

In the agreement signed by the mayor, the commission said Mr. Mazzarella admitted he had a close relationship with Mr. Cavaioli, a close neighbor. The mayor said Mr. Cavaioli would tell him, “I should deed the property over to you,” and, “You might own this house someday.”

Mr. Cavaioli did not have a will, and after his death the interest in the house went to his three nieces — two of whom transferred their interest in the house to Mr. Mazzarella at no cost. The mayor offered the third niece $2,000 for her interest, but she refused, the commission said. The mayor has since said he no longer is interested in owning the house.

Mr. Mazzarella said last week Mr. Cataldo called the Ethics Commission and fabricated the whole story, 33 months after 72 Carter St. was rehabbed, in retaliation over the mayor cutting his hours down to 19 per week after more than 30 years with the city. Additionally, the mayor said, the commission did not do its job and did not interview key witnesses.

“I was cutting his hours,” Mr. Mazzarella said. “He wrote a letter to the Ethics Commission two weeks before the hearing about cutting his hours because there was not enough work for him. Then, he comes up with this story that he didn’t know Mario was a veteran and he never inspected the property.” Veterans and those in emergency situations like Mr. Cavaioli’s are pushed to the top of the list for housing rehab money under the block grant program.

“The mayor said I sent a letter to the Ethics Commission two weeks before my hours were cut,” Mr. Cataldo said yesterday. “I did not file the complaint and this is a complete fabrication on (the mayor’s) part.”

He said he believes the mayor cut his hours so he would resign before the mayor inherited 72 Carter St.

The problem, Mr. Cataldo said, was not with rehabbing Mr. Cavaoli’s home. He said the man was well deserving of the grant.

“The program is designed to help people in his situation, that’s not where the problem was,” Mr. Cataldo said. “The problem was, there was no clear title to the property. I personally know of no other way to attach a lien to a property when there is no deed available. I did in fact bring this to the mayor’s attention. I know he now denies this conversation; I have no proof of this conversation. It was a conversation between the two of us. If I knew then what I know now, it would have been documented.”

The mayor instructed him, he said, to go ahead with the rehab and told him he would later supply him with the proper paperwork.

“I never received the proper paperwork,” Mr. Cataldo said. “Instead, I gave a contract to the mayor which he brought to Mr. Cavaioli to sign and returned it to me with said contract stating that repayment would be made to the CDBG program upon title transfer, refinancing, etc. Mr. Cavaioli was moved up on the wait list — applicants deemed emergencies are — but again, there was no clear title.

“I never met Mr. Cavaioli and I was told by the mayor that he was a recluse, a very private and proud man and it took some convincing, but Mr. Cavaioli finally agreed to accept help,” Mr. Cataldo said. “Seventy-two Carter St. is the only home in the history of my employment that has been rehabbed where I never met the recipient, and the only home that was rehabbed without a clear title.

“It has been said that I said I never inspected the home. I’d be very curious as to how I would rehab a home, write up specs and everything else that goes along with a job if I had never inspected it. I did in fact inspect it, the mayor met me there to let me in, and he in fact had the key to let me in.”

After the commission announced the agreement with the mayor last week, Mr. Mazzarella said a preliminary audit of the CDBG program showed it is in poor shape because of Mr. Cataldo.

Mr. Mazzarella said the independent audit showed the city was at risk because of inaccurate reporting concerning loan balances, the collectability of loans, and the city’s secured interest in receivables. A full audit is needed, Mr. Mazzarella said.

Mr. Cataldo said he was not aware of the audit results until Friday, and saw the mention of them as a way for the mayor to try to change the subject. “By the second day of (news) articles it’s not even about 72 Carter St anymore. It’s about audit results?” he said.